(Yes, I'm a bit behind in my reading of your blog.)
I, too, was home, sick from elementary school that day, and was,in fact, watching the launch live. The disaster certainly reinforced the so-very-not-routine nature of space exploration. I vaguely remember drawing a picture of the explosion using over a dozen sheets of paper taped together.
Every time a disaster, political setback, or other circumstances seem to cast doubt on the future of space exploration, I take solace in the fact that History affirms that, though it may take time, mankind always has and will continue to explore.

On January 28, 1986, I was home from school with the flu. I remember that, no matter what I did, I couldn't get warm, so I was sitting in a hot bath when my mom knocked on the bathroom door. "There was an accident with the space shuttle," she said, in the same voice she used when she told me th...

Before reading this post, I was aware I'd spent an inordinate amount of time and money playing Gauntlet (the voice in my dream always said,"Blue Valkyrie is about to die!"), Pinbot and Pro Wrestling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_Wrestling_%28Nintendo_Entertainment_System%29 at the Lorain, Ohio 7-Eleven that was conveniently located at the end of my paper route. The post and comments immediately had me rummaging through the dusty recesses of my childhood memories. I was surprised by how the thought of certain games instantly conjured the exact locations and sensations so long ago associated with them. I remember arcade games in various places. I vividly picture my first time playing Yie Ar Kung-Fu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yie_Ar_Kung-Fu in an Elyria, OH Zayre Department Store and happily rediscovering it while on vacation in Eagle River,WI (where I beat Blues for the first time). My chlorine-scented domination on Karate Champ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karate_Champ at a now defunct swim club called Riviera that was part of a great summer. I remember the awe-inspiring glimpse into the then-would-be-future of games with Dragon's Lair at Aladdin's Castle in North Olmstead,Ohio, to the time when myself and two friends were playing Rampage at Aladdin's Castle in Marion, Indiana when some unknown, random kid comes up behind us, reached in front of one of my friends, who was in the middle, to punch my other friend at the left station, in the jaw. (The ensuing fight got us kicked out of the mall but was quite entertaining.)
I remember my first Apple II experiences after school with Oregon Trail and Karateka http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karateka_(video_game).
I can recall countless hours spent in our basement with good friends playing console games. The console evolution unfolded throughout my early teens, from PONG, to Combat on the Atari 2600, to squeezing through the gap http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joust_%28video_game%29#Programming_bugs to countless victories in Joust on the Atari 7800, through my introduction to the oft-mentioned "turtle trick" in Super Mario Bros. on the NES.
Thank you, Mr. Wheaton, for starting me on this brief trip into my arcade of memories.

I'm sure it's an enormous surprise to learn that I've spent a lot of time recently thinking about games and gaming, so I've found myself looking through old blog posts for research, inspiration, and to confirm or deny that strange "I think I've written about this idea before..." tingle that's re...

Anne and I got to go see The Pee Wee Herman show last night. It was phenomenal, and I realized about 20 minutes into the show that I was sitting on the edge of my seat, grinning and jumping around like a little kid ... because that's pretty much how I used to watch Pee Wee's Playhouse. After the...